GRAND RAPIDS -- Grand Rapids Public Schools will break ground this summer on a permanent school at Blandford Nature Center thanks to a $1.5 million gift from the Wege Foundation accepted today by the school board's finance committee.

The gift will provide most of the cost of building expected to cost about $2 million, which would be ready for occupancy sometime during the 2011-2012 academic year, Chief Financial Officer Lisa Freiburger said.

The school district will commit $250,000 from food service funds to construct a school kitchen and dining commons, and work with the Wege Foundation to raise funds to cover the remainder of the project, Freiburger said.

"This is a wonderful Christmas present," said Dale Hovenkamp, principal at Blandford School and City Middle/High School, home to the Center for Econimicology, a word philanthropist Peter Wege coined to describe how economics and ecology work together.
"The study has been transformative for many students," Hovenkamp said.

The new school will replace three portable classrooms. Portables have been used since the school opened in 1972. The current portables were used when they were installed on the site in 1995, Hovenkamp said.

The popular Blandford School serves 60 sixth-graders and usually has a waiting list.

Board President Senita Lenear asked whether the permanent structure will permit Blandford School to increase enrollment, but Freiburger said the program wants to minimize its environmental impact on the nature center and retain its uniqueness.

The school will continue to enroll about 60 students, although the building will be designed so that two additional classrooms easily could be added in the future, Freiburger said.

At the request of the Wege Foundation, the new school also will be available for community use during summers and other times school is not in session, she said.

No change in the school's name is proposed, Freiburger said, although district officials would like to name the school commons for Wege.